Italy

Elisabetta and Pasquale walked away from their architecture careers to become full-time farmers in 2000. And they do not just grow grapes, they cultivate ancient white figs, wheat, citruses right next to their vines. We can hear that beautiful warm smell coming from thousand kilometres...

Their farm sits in a very specific pocket of nature. You will find the estate wedged exactly between the Monte della Stella mountain, the Acquasanta stream, and the Mediterranean sea.

They are heavily inspired by the old ways of drinking. They model their wines directly after the traditional "festival wines" that local farmers used to make for themselves decades ago.

They also have fun naming their bottles. Their wild, zero-dosage sparkling white is called "La Matta". Their undisgorged Aglianico rosato is called "Il Fric".

The operation stays tiny by design: they only pull about 25,000 to 30,000 bottles a year from the entire estate. Today, they grow Aglianico, Fiano, Malvasia, Barbera, Trebbiano, and Piedirosso; some of these vines are up to 60 years old. They manage everything organically and apply biodynamic farming methods to keep the soil alive, while in the cellar, they keep the process totally raw. The grapes undergo spontaneous fermentation using only wild, indigenous yeasts.